The Auckland City Post
Match17 Oct 2026
Maksim Kličković leads the rout of Southern United
4‑1, and Maksim Kličković took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Auckland City tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 saves: Conor Tracey was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Maksim Kličković takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maksim Kličković provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Vasilije Kostov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Auckland City
David Yoo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Auckland City
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Auckland City
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matt Ellis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
One of their own: Maksim Kličković
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market19 Oct 2026
Auckland City promote Michael Smith from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michael Smith has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
- Player ratings Ninety minutes of Matt Ellis at his very best
- The dugout The manager’s verdict
- Boardroom Auckland City turn down the training-ground plan